When I first entered the
field of Ophthalmic Photography, I was a student at Rochester Institute of
Technology and interning at West Coast Medical Group, LLC. My manager showed me
the program for the OPS Annual Program.
There were many papers in the program covering the different events
during the meeting. I really do not
remember it all. What I do remember is
the flyer containing the Johnny Justice Jr. Scholar Ship Award (JJJSA) blurb
and a small colorful piece of paper with RAFFLE written on it. I blew off the RAFFLE and continued to read
about the scholarship. How was I to know
the importance of the JJJSA raffle?

Moving forward 3 years to the
reception of my first OPS Annual Meeting in Las Vegas.
My manager and colleague, Sarah Moyer, won a Canon Powershot digital
camera! We were not there for more than
an hour! I thought to myself, "How in
the world did she win a stellar gift…with no effort!” So I asked her, "Sarah, that’s awesome! How do I win something?!” She told me she had purchased a raffle ticket
for $10! That night it seemed as though
everyone I knew or whom I first met were winning a raffle prize. Had I known previously what one raffle ticket
could get me I would have bought 3 or 4!

Now, as the Chair of the
JJJSA I truly understand the importance of the Raffle ticket and the leg work that
goes into getting these wonderful gifts for OPS members to possibly win. You see, these wonderful gifts are donated by
our fellow vendors! This year we have receive raffle prizes (to date) from Bioptigen, Bryson
Taylor, Canon, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Chace and Associates, LLC.; Ellex, Haag Streit, Heidelberg Engineering, Merge Healthcare, Optovue, Sonomed Escalon, Topcon
Medical Systems and TTI Medical! The
funds collected from the raffle tickets go to supported OPS related activities,
such as the JJJSA. I am truly grateful
that the vendors are willing to freely donate theses awesome prizes. Last year vendors donated two laptops, gift
certificates, textbooks and other wonderful prizes! So far this year vendors have donated iPads,
digital cameras, Apple TV, and an
iShuffle just to name a few!

So be sure to buy your raffle
tickets! There are a couple of ways to
buy your raffle tickets. First, you may
go to www.opsweb.org, scroll on left of
page to Online Store, on the main page go to Raffle Tickets, from
there you select the amount of raffle tickets you want to purchase. Secondly, you may purchase your raffle
tickets at the registration desk or at the Welcome Reception on Friday,
November 9th. The other
wonderful thing about purchasing your raffle tickets is you do not have to be
present to win! So, if we call your name
and you are nowhere to be seen at the meeting, we will mail the raffle prize to
you! Seriously, it cannot get any easier
than that!

So what are you waiting for?!
Stop reading my blog and buy your raffle
tickets!!! Not only are you supporting the OPS, you might just win something
special!